Public sector organisations can now quantify the savings they can achieve from implementing 100% electronic ordering and/or invoicing using an innovative free tool provided by @UK PLC, the leading provider of eProcurement links to suppliers.

@UK is already helping nearly 80 public sector bodies as diverse as Leeds Teaching Hospitals, the Thames Valley Police and the London Borough of Lewisham to save money by eliminating the time consuming the paperwork of ordering and paying for goods and services. It is offering this new saving estimation service free of charge on a “micro site” www.ukplc.net/roi . @UK hopes that the quick and easy nature of the exercise means that every Finance Director and procurement professional within the public service will “have a go” at quantifying the expected savings and return on investment (ROI) available to them. As local authorities, central government departments, health authorities, police authorities and all aspects of the public service are under severe pressure to cut costs, initiating eProcurement is one very straightforward and proven way that immediate savings can be achieved.

@UK PLC Business Development Director Lyn Duncan said, "Through our work with public sector bodies across the UK, we identified the need for a tool to help organisations get a quick handle on the potential returns that eProcurement can provide. Obviously such a “one size fits all” model will not be exact to the penny, and this top-level saving estimate is by no means the total of what can be achieved. @UK will be happy to work with any public body refining their particular business case to fit in with the future process model they envisage, and hence the full savings that can be achieved.”

“We encourage any public body to approach such a business reengineering exercise with an open mind. Although first thoughts are naturally to automate the existing requisition, approval and payment processes, it is always worth carrying out a total review. One very worthwhile goal for example is to eliminate all aspects of the dreaded manual “3-way match” of orders, goods received notes and invoices. This step alone is responsible for administration costs typically in the high 6 figures per authority, yet can be totally eliminated. @UK PLC is the only company in the UK which has managed to interconnect all the main financial systems operated by the public sector and its supplier base. Our fully electronic purchasing and invoicing path can for example accommodate public bodies with financial systems provided by Oracle, SAP, Sage, Cedar, Civica, and Agresso. We have even linked public bodies with “home built” finance systems to their suppliers. No organisation should feel it cannot access the major savings that our ROI model will almost certainly highlight.”